Friday Night Visitor
by cuttlebunny
Summary: Tails is alone on a Friday night, and is feeling pathetic as ever. But a surprise visitor will at least make his night more interesting, even if only by getting on his nerves.
1. Alone On A Friday Night

God I'm pathetic, Tails thought.

It was 1:30 in the morning and Sonic still wasn't home yet. But why would he be? This wasn't new. If he wasn't saving the world (which contrary to popular belief didn't actually happen very much) he was usually out and about on his own or with someone else who was apparently more fun to hang out with and more important than Tails was.

Tails sighed. For a moment he tried to put himself in Sonic's shoes. If you could run at incredible speeds, you'd probably get around a lot. And if you got around a lot, it's conceivable that you'd meet a lot of people and want to balance your various relationships and make time for all of the different people in your life. Right?

Maybe. But Tails found himself alone cleaning up after Sonic's mess more and more lately. What was his deal? A thank you or an apology or any sort of exchange between them that indicated Sonic cared at least a little bit about the inconveniences he might cause would be nice. Unless he didn't care. Which was conceivable too, considering he apparently forgot what he and Tails had made plans for that night.

Tails sighed again as he brought all of Sonic's dirty dishes to the kitchen. Maybe he was overreacting. They became friends for a reason, didn't they? Surely there must be something he was misunderstanding about Sonic's behavior. Not that Tails was unjustified in feeling upset, but maybe there were some extenuating circumstances that he didn't know about. Maybe he would know if Sonic bothered to spare a few minutes of his time for his supposedly "best" friend….

Tails sighed in frustration at his emotions and tried to manage his feelings as he started washing the dishes yet again. Maybe if he just waited a little bit longer Sonic would be home before he had to go to bed.

Ah, who was he kidding? Sonic would probably be out all night. It was a Friday night after all. Tails was thinking he shouldn't bother staying awake anymore for Sonic's sake. He probably wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

Tails was putting down the dish brush and taking off his cleaning gloves when a loud crash pierced the silence. But Tails was annoyed rather than afraid. He had a pretty good guess as to who caused it.

"Knuckles, _please_ don't tell me you unhinged the door _again…._"

Unamused at Knuckles's taste for obnoxious dramatic entrances, Tails didn't even bother to turn to face him, the idea of his self-satisfied smirking face with the unhinged front door lying in front of him being particularly unappealing to him in his current frame of mind.

But the following silence was unnerving to Tails. He glanced behind him and was surprised to find the door was still on its hinges. Even more surprising was the fact that Shadow the Hedgehog was the one standing in the doorway.

Shadow's cold scarlet eyes scanned the room.

"Where the _hell_ is Sonic?" he said in his characteristically brooding and edgy voice.

Tails shrugged. "Beats the _hell_ out of me." He placed a special emphasis on his words in a mocking imitation of Shadow's voice and vernacular.

Shadow did not seem amused, but he said nothing as he stepped into the house.

Tails was exasperated at Shadow's impudent uninvited arrival and didn't feel particularly inclined to offer his hospitality, but he knew better than to tell him to leave. The ultimate lifeform in all likelihood would probably get his way no matter what anyone did anyway.

"I need the Chaos Emerald I was promised. Your friend Sonic failed to deliver. If he's not here, then I have no problem taking it from under his nose… by any means necessary."

Despite the apparent realness of Shadow's threat Tails couldn't help but reflect amusedly at the fact that Shadow just uttered the phrase "under his nose" in complete seriousness. Maybe this contributed to Tails feeling rather unintimidated, or maybe it was the fact that he'd been too depressed lately to really care if anything bad happened to him anymore. But regardless, Tails knew how to play his cards.

"Well you can search me if you want to, or the whole house for all I care. You won't find any Chaos Emeralds here though, but you're more than welcome to waste your time. Meanwhile, I've got a life, and it's nearly two in the morning, so I'm going to go to bed. You can steal whatever you want I guess, since I have no way of stopping you…."

Shadow remained standing, evidently deciding to not search the house, seemingly aggravated by Tails's uncharacteristic display of attitude as he demanded, "Then tell me what I want to know."

Tails allowed himself to crack a snide smile, knowing that he had the high ground. "Well, _Shadow…_ I can tell you what you want to know… if you do something for me first."

Shadow was starting to look angry. "Hmph. And what makes you think I would be willing to do what _you_ want?"

Tails shrugged with an aloofness more characteristic of the hedgehog he was talking to. "If it's beneath you then I couldn't care less—you can go on a wild goose chase for the Emerald and waste your time, or beat me into submission and waste your energy. But I think you might find that what I want takes less of both, so it would be the least inconvenient course of action for you."

Shadow crossed his arms in arrogance. "I'll be the judge of that. Tell me what you want."

Feeling unusually pleased with himself, Tails took a deep breath before he spoke. "I can't really be sure of what Sonic promised you, but I know he promised _me_ that he would get the next load of dishes and watch the Bonanza Brothers movie with me tonight. So if you agree to do what he said he'd do for _me_, then I'll help you get the Chaos Emerald that he supposedly 'failed to deliver' to you."

"Tch…." Shadow shook his head in condescending disbelief. Tails probably would have been more offended if he wasn't so tired. He yawned and started making his way to his room.

"If you do decide to do dishes, the brush and dish soap are already on the counter. You can wear the cleaning gloves if they fit. I'm going to lie down. Wake me up if you do them please, then we can watch the movie. Otherwise you can feel free to leave." Tails yawned again as he closed his bedroom door, leaving Shadow alone in the living room.

Tails crashed onto his bed without bothering to turn out the light. His old mattress felt unusually comfortable, and he supposed it was because he was so tired. But he knew on some level that his comfort was probably also influenced by how he felt about his interaction with Shadow. He couldn't help but feel immensely proud about taking the ultimate lifeform down a peg. He almost completely forgot about Sonic as he drifted off to a pleasant sleep.


	2. Not His Way, Nor His Style

Seemingly without any time passing at all, Tails woke up upon slamming into his bedroom floor with a thud.

"Ow!" Tails sat up rigidly as pain shot through his body. He looked up to a towering angry-looking Shadow the Hedgehog.

"I said _get up_," he spat through his teeth.

Tails rubbed his head instinctively as pain surged through it. "Well _speak_ up next time. Clearly I didn't hear you."

Shadow didn't acknowledge what Tails said. He spoke coldly. "I've completed the dishes."

"You mean you _did_ them?" Tails corrected as he slowly got up from the ground, his head and back throbbing horribly.

Shadow crossed his arms in defiance. "Isn't that what I said?"

Tails dusted himself off, his annoyance becoming increasingly observable through his tone of voice. "Well _no_. You said you _completed_ them. But you can't complete dishes. You can _do_ the dishes, but you can't _complete_ them."

Despite Shadow's rigid unchanging expression, his increasing agitation was becoming more apparent through his tone of voice as well. "Well I don't think it matters what I said. You know what I meant."

Tails sighed in frustration as he stalked out of his bedroom.

With Shadow idling in the living room, Tails carefully inspected the stacked and sorted dishes on the kitchen counter. Tails was pleasantly surprised, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised at all that the ultimate life form would be able to achieve the ultimate level of clean. Though to his disappointment, the dishes were still wet, but he supposed that that was his fault for not indicating a towel acceptable for use. After briefly examining his unblemished reflection in the glass he was holding, he carefully put the glass back on the counter.

"Well done Shadow. You've brought these dishes closer to God." Tails chuckled to himself in a self-deprecating ironic sort of way.

Shadow looked unamused. "There is no God."

Shadow spoke with such a straight face that Tails couldn't help but smile humorously. "No it's just a joke, Shadow. Haven't you heard the expression?"

Shadow continued to glare at Tails. "I'm ready to watch the movie now."

Tails sighed rather sadly. "Of course you are…."

Dejectedly Tails sauntered into the bathroom to retrieve a towel. On his way back to the kitchen he explained to Shadow, "I'll be ready once I can dry the dishes and put them away. In the meantime you can make yourself comfortable, but do me a favor and try not to touch what you don't need to."

"Hmph. How long is it going to take?" Shadow was clearly impatient.

Tails wore a sort of sad grimacing expression. "It won't take more than a few minutes."

Tails yawned while he allowed himself a leisurely stretch before opening the cupboard and setting to work on the tedious process of grabbing a dish, wiping it dry, inspecting it for stray water droplets he might have missed, wiping it again for good measure, then reaching up and putting it in its proper place. Amidst the clanking of dishes Shadow continued to stand rooted to his spot, eyeing his surroundings.

After about a minute of nothing but the sound of Tails's busywork, Tails glanced back at Shadow continuing to stand not doing anything and staring off into space.

"You can sit on the couch if you want to you know. I'm almost done here so we can watch the movie… _very_… soon…" Tails was struggling to reach the top shelf of the cupboard, standing as high as he could on his toes, a plate balancing between his two longest fingers and the edge of the shelf. The plate wobbled precariously before slipping from Tails's gloved fingers.

Before Tails could even brace himself from the plate's inevitable collision with the floor, Shadow was right behind him with the plate suddenly stationary between his fingers.

Tails gasped involuntarily and stared at Shadow, stupefied. Shadow stared back, his typically brooding expression fixed on his dark face.

"Can't you fly or something?" Shadow asked insinuatingly.

Tails felt himself getting pissed off again. "Can't you see how small this kitchen is? I'd knock everything over!" As Tails said this, he became keenly aware of just how close Shadow was to him in the crowded space.

Shadow's eyes darted to Tails's big fluffy tails, disdainfully and disinterestedly. "Well with tails like _those_ of course you would."

Tails fought the urge to resort to violence, knowing that he would lose. But he could feel his eye twitching with anger. "Gee, thanks for stating the obvious. I hope you feel smart now."

Shadow's lips pursed slightly in irritation as he glowered at Tails again. Tails glowered back, reciprocating Shadow's scorn.

Shadow's eyes shifted again, begrudgingly, to the plate in his hand. With cool indifference he extended his arm and effortlessly placed the plate on the top shelf that Tails couldn't reach. Tails was startled by the unexpected sensation of Shadow's quills brushing against his fur as he casually cut in front of him. His newfound position in the kitchen forced Tails to step back in order to make room for him.

"I'll wrap up things here. You'd be more useful setting up the movie," Shadow said with contempt.

Tails was bewildered by outrage. Unwittingly he bared his clenched teeth. But he stopped himself from blurting out a choice insult—he didn't want to drive Shadow into a dangerous rage by saying something overt. Tails closed his eyes and made a point of taking a deep, controlled breath before speaking again.

"Well, _Shadow…_ I'd like to make some popcorn before the movie. _I hope you don't mind._"

In passive-aggressive retaliation Tails forced himself back into the kitchen, angrily pushing up against Shadow's spikey back. He stifled a cry of pain as Shadow's sharp quills pressed into his own back and focused on opening the cupboard above the microwave and pulling out a sealed bag of microwave popcorn. In a furious haste he tore apart the plastic covering and yanked open the microwave door. He flung the flattened bag of kernels into the microwave and slammed the door shut. Aggressively he thumbed the buttons and pressed start. Inadvertently he focused on the microwave door's hazy reflection and saw that Shadow's head was turned slightly back at him, his face sharp with cut-throat hatred.

"I suppose it would be stating the obvious again if I said that I _did_ mind."

Tails felt a chill run down his spine at the tone of Shadow's voice, but he tried not to make any show of trepidation. With a deliberate air of placidity, he carefully turned to face Shadow and made a point of looking him straight in the eye.

"Yes. It would be. Good thing you didn't say it."

Shadow's expression darkened as his eyes remained locked with Tails's. With menace he slowly inched closer, exuding a frightening aura of ultimate power. The distance between their faces became dangerously short. Tails stood his ground as he tried not to break eye contact, feeling the air expelling from Shadow's nose as he angrily breathed down on him.

Amidst the sound of nothing but the quiet hum of the microwave and the adversaries' restrained heavy breathing, Shadow's eyes gradually shifted downward, then slowly upward again, perusing Tails's body. Tails could feel his heart pounding—he wondered if Shadow was looking for signs of fear.

Suddenly the popping sound of the first kernel pierced the air. Tails jumped at the noise with a start. Shadow's eyes shifted to the microwave as the kernels began to pop in scattered succession. With his signature cold indifference, Shadow turned away from Tails and back to the remaining dishes on the counter, the popcorn now popping at a steady, rapid pace. Hesitantly, almost reluctantly, Tails turned to face the microwave, peering inside the partially transparent door to watch the bag grow as the timer counted down to zero. They continued their respective tasks in the kitchen without another word.


	3. It Doesn't Matter

Shadow had finished first, and was seated on the couch, waiting impatiently. Tails had just finished filling a giant bowl full of the popcorn he had made and was carrying it over to the living area. Gingerly, he placed the bowl on top of the coffee table situated in front of the couch and, by extension, Shadow.

Shadow looked at the towering mound of buttery popcorn with apparent disgust. Tails couldn't help but feel personally insulted, although he figured he shouldn't, since he didn't particularly like popcorn much himself. Sonic was really the one who liked to eat it during movies, so that's why they had it in the house. Tails tried to remember when the last time was when they actually _watched_ a movie together. This would have been the first time in a while. Tails felt a sudden pang of longing—he missed watching movies with Sonic.

"…Are we going to watch the movie or are we just going to watch the popcorn?" Shadow's voice was sour. Tails subconsciously turned his head in Shadow's general direction, slowly coming back to reality. His eyes shifted from the popcorn bowl and focused on Shadow's surly face, and he felt his own face flush in abashed self-consciousness.

"S-sorry." Tails abruptly straightened and avoided eye contact. He briskly made his way to the TV cabinet and immediately turned his attention to scanning the bottom shelf. Given that Sonic and Tails didn't have many movies, and given that what they did have had been carefully alphabetized (no thanks to Sonic), it didn't take long for Tails to find the movie he was looking for. Tails took a moment to admire the case. It was definitely nice—at the time of purchase Tails had decided to fork up some extra money for the special collector's edition version, and the cover was based on an original theatrical release poster that was, in Tails's personal opinion, much better looking than the promotional artwork they used for the standard edition. Tails turned the case over in his hands and ran his finger wistfully along the side of it. It still had the shrink wrap with the barcode sticker on the front. Every time Tails and Sonic had gotten a new movie, Sonic had always been excited about opening the shrink wrap, always likening it to opening Christmas presents. Tails couldn't help but feel bad about opening the shrink wrap by himself.

"You know, when I asked about watching the movie, staring at the disc case wasn't what I was talking about." Tails wasn't feeling so apologetic the second time Shadow broke the silence. He passed Shadow a dirty look and thought about telling him that his second quip wasn't quite as sharp as the first. But he thought better of it as he looked back down at the movie case.

"I think I'm gonna need one of my tools to open the shrink wrap, then we can watch the movie." Tails tried to sound matter-of-fact to mask his irritation. He slowly got up and started making his way to his room, side-stepping the coffee table.

"That won't be necessary. Give it to me." Shadow outstretched his hand with an air of presumptuous impudence. Tails stared, incredulous. When Shadow's gaze shifted to Tails's fixed expression of disbelief, he furrowed his brow and closed his eyes, letting out a quiet sigh of frustration.

"Give it to me, _please._" Shadow's eyes shifted to Tails again. They looked as inciting and apathetic as ever. Tails was not impressed by Shadow's apparent lack of sincerity in his tone or expression, but he reluctantly obliged Shadow's request, given that he did think to say please on his own accord, even though he _was_ heavily prompted to do so.

"Be careful with it, okay?" Tails's voice was almost pleading as he delicately held out the movie with both hands.

Shadow pinched the movie between his fingers with his usual attitude, but it wasn't a careless gesture. "Just relax." His voice was condescending.

In a swift maneuver that was both poised and nonchalant, Shadow swiped out a small pocketknife from under the tongue of his shoe. With a flick of his wrist he revealed the sharp serrated blade.

Tails stared. The knife was beautiful, but for some reason he found himself more captivated by Shadow's movement. For a moment he studied Shadow's hands, how his gloved fingers were curled around the handle, and followed the curl of his fingers to the base of the blade, which glinted faintly in the dim light. With the knife resting in one hand and the movie still pinched between the fingers of his other hand, Shadow was perfectly stationary, aside from the subtle rising and falling of his chest from silent breathing. With a start Tails caught himself and realized that he was looking at Shadow a bit too intimately for his own liking and quickly glanced up at his face, trying to suppress any outward displays of interest he may have accidentally exhibited.

"Wow, that's handy. You got a gun in there too?" he asked sarcastically, eyeing Shadow's shoe.

Shadow's mouth flatlined in the darkness. He gave out a very dry, forced, singular "hmm." Whether it was a mild sarcastic laugh or a subdued chiding groan that he uttered Tails couldn't be sure. But it was a response at least.

Shadow coolly cast his eyes downward and purposefully adjusted the blade in his hand. Casually he scanned the case and abruptly sliced open the plastic. Tails jumped at the noise. In a manner characterized by his usual detachment, Shadow loosely outstretched his arm with the case in Tails's general direction with it still being pinched between his fingers.

"Here." Shadow's voice was curt. Anxiously Tails took the case with both hands. He yanked off the torn plastic and immediately examined the case for scratches. He breathed a sigh of relief. He probably should have figured that the case would be completely unscathed. He looked up at Shadow, who was staring into the blackness of the TV screen, the knife nowhere in sight.

"Thank you, Shadow." Tails tried to sound grateful despite his mixed feelings about Shadow's intervention. Shadow's eyes suddenly shifted to Tails, as if he was surprised, but he quickly looked back to the TV. He said nothing but another ambiguous "hmm." Tails felt very awkward as he speculated about Shadow's thoughts.

With the movie case firmly secured in his hands Tails gingerly made his way to the couch. With cautious uncertainty, he slowly settled into the vacant cushion next to Shadow, almost huddling the armrest so as to provide as much space between them as possible. With his extreme effort to avoid any potential awkwardness from proximity came the awkwardness from his uncomfortable seated position and tensed muscles. Tails tried to mask his discomfort as he tried to look comfortable.

"...Aren't you forgetting something?" Shadow's voice was harsh. Tails jumped and suddenly realized that he forgot to put the movie in the player.

"Oh, uh right, s-sorry." Tails spoke too quickly as he nervously sprung up from the couch. Hastily he opened the TV cabinet and thumbed the button to open the player. He felt the heat in his face and thought about Shadow's tone. Of course Shadow had been unpleasant the whole evening, but his most recent words were biting in a way Tails wasn't expecting. Suddenly Tails thought about Sonic and how he wasn't there, and he thought about how he wasn't going to watch the movie with the person he wanted to watch it with. He gripped the case tightly in his trembling hands as tears started to form in his eyes. He kept his eyes cast downward on the case as he fought his intense feelings of embarrassment and longing and clumsily forced it open, jumping again with surprise as he accidentally sent the disc flying out onto the floor. He knew he should quickly get the disc and inspect it for damage but he sat rooted to the ground. He heard Shadow groan behind him as he got up from the couch to retrieve the disc. He abruptly situated himself near the player next to Tails and placed the disc in the tray, thumbing the button to close it.

Shadow sharply took in a breath as he angrily turned to Tails. But his words caught as Tails met his eyes. Tails couldn't read Shadow's expression with his vision obscured by his tears, and he looked away abashedly as they started to roll down his cheeks. Aggressively he wiped his face and kept his eyes facing the floor, not wanting to look at Shadow.

"I can't do this," he whispered, "I don't want to watch the movie anymore." Tails was exhausted. With difficulty he stood up, keeping his eyes downward and away from Shadow. His voice was colored with emotion as he spoke and he hated it. Shadow was silent.

Tails kept talking, as much as he didn't want to. "The Chaos Emerald is in my workshop. I'll get it. Then you can take it and leave." With his eyes kept resolutely forward Tails opened the front door and stepped outside the house. The night was black. A chilling breeze drifted through the air and made Tails shiver. Quickly he strode several paces behind the house to a large wooden shack concealed by trees and foliage. He pushed open the front door and scanned the room. He located the safe box and made his way towards it, stumbling past his various inventions, tools, and electrical cords. With shaky hands he picked up the box. It was a technologically advanced device equipped with a specialized retinal scanner that Tails had made himself. He input the proper starting sequence and looked into the scanner. Its light glowed green as its door unlocked.

With his hands still shaking he gripped the emerald with one and dropped the box with the other by mistake. It clattered to the floor and Tails left it there, his chest aching from stress. He turned around to face Shadow, who was standing behind him on the other side of the workshop. He was nothing more than a pitch-black silhouette in the dark entryway. He stood perfectly still, and was perfectly mysterious.

Tails was trembling uncontrollably as he outstretched his arm, violently offering the emerald to the shadow in his workshop. "Here. It's yours. Take it and get out of here."

There was a moment of hesitation before Shadow emerged into the dim light. His pace was slow, controlled, deliberate… his face rigidly blank….

Tails couldn't meet his eyes. But he held his quivering arm outstretched towards him. Shadow stopped short, inches from Tails's hand. The room was eerily quiet, save for Tails's ragged breathing. Shadow didn't move.

"Well what are you waiting for? Just take it already!" Tails could feel his heart pounding. He didn't want Shadow to hear it. What was he doing? Tails resolutely made direct eye contact.

Shadow was staring deeply at Tails. His eyes were tinged with something… some deep-felt emotion perhaps, but his expression remained unreadable. Was it anger? Confusion? What was he thinking? Tails didn't know. And it made him afraid.

"Take the damn thing and get out of here! Get out! I don't want you here anymore! Get out!" Tails shouted, his tremulous voice echoing throughout the workshop. He almost threw the emerald at Shadow's face. But Shadow reached out his hand, in a manner that seemed strangely cautious, and gently took the emerald from him.

"Very well…." Shadow's voice was oddly hushed. He broke eye contact with Tails as he turned away. His steady, careful footsteps reverberated through the air as he made his way towards the center of the room. His back was to Tails as he raised the emerald powerfully into the air.

"Chaos Control!" Suddenly Tails was blinded by a brilliant white flash. Instinctively he raised his arm to cover his eyes. Then the room was as it was, and Shadow was gone.

Tails, knowing that he was now completely and utterly alone, sunk into a disheveled heap on the floor and broke down into tired, sputtering sobs. Tails could only take comfort in the fact that he was isolated from anyone who could possibly misunderstand him, and gradually his cries receded as he fell into a troubled sleep.


End file.
